Established and emerging Michigan artists alike took home wins for the best Michigan music of 2025 at Friday’s Jammie Awards, held at Grand Rapids’ jam-packed Intersection. View the winners’ list, photos.
Surprise Winner: Sweet Dee & The Wild Honeys on the main stage after winning best roots/Americana album honors. (Photo/Derek Ketchum)
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Much-beloved northern Michigan singer-songwriter May Erlewine added to her historic trove of multiple Jammie Awards on Friday night, while rock-hued Grand Rapids bands Phabies, Low Phase and The Westside took home coveted album and artist of the year honors, along with Ludington native and Americana tunesmith Chloe Kimes.
Hosted by community radio station WYCE (88.1 FM), the annual awards show honoring the best Michigan music of the previous year attracted a hearty, enthusiastic and jam-packed crowd of more than 1,500 people to The Intersection in downtown Grand Rapids, where 20 diverse acts performed on three stages throughout the evening.
At the end of the night, Phabies emerged as the highest-profile winner, snagging honors for artist of the year and album of the year (for “The Curse of Caring”).
Earlier in the evening, Erlewine won the critics’ choice award for album of the year (“What It Takes”) and song of the year (“Animal”), with indie-rock’s Low Phase honored as artist of the year.
Dante Cope: Firing up the Elevation stage with an all-star cast. (Photo/Anna Sink)
This year’s listeners’ choice awards — determined by online voting by fans and radio listeners — went to The Westside for its “Spiked Mike & His Blue Dog” release and to Kimes as artist of the year. Hip hop’s Wuzee received this year’s “Against All Odds” award, earning a huge ovation from the crowd.
As always, the performances between the 18 award presentations ruled the evening with elaborate and incredibly diverse sets by several of the bands, including Cameron Blake, Dante Cope, La Furia Del Ritmo, Y-Not, Justin Avdek and Lady Ace Boogie & Friends.
Dark-wave synth-pop trio Clawfoot unleashed one of the most dynamic and singularly infectious sets of the night on the Elevation stage, after being nominated for its debut 2025 release.
Other award winners ranged from veteran players (Luke Winslow-King for best blues album, The Accidentals for best contemporary folk album, The Bootstrap Boys for single of the year) to young, emerging artists (Los Hermanos 616 for best album by a new artist, Sonny Ski for best hip-hop album, Ten Peso Version for best rock album). The Intersection received a special award, too, for hosting the annual Jammie Awards for more than 20 years.
Contacted by Local Spins in Australia where she’s touring with country star Lainey Wilson, Sav Madigan (Buist) of The Accidentals called the Traverse City-bred band’s latest Jammie Award “an honor. WYCE has been a supporter of indie music as long as we have been musicians. It’s the reason our albums get heard.
Packing the Stache: August (Photo/Chelsea Whitaker)
“They bring new fans and listeners to the table and we couldn’t do what we do without them. Our fan base is in large part to thanks to WYCE. We’re honored to win a Jammie for ‘Time Out 3’ and thankful for the listeners and the DJs spinning our tunes.”
First-time winner Dee Sutton, of Sweet Dee & The Wild Honeys — which won the award for best Americana/roots album for the band’s debut record, “Alone Again,” and also performed on Friday — put it this way: “We owe it to everybody around me who helped make this possible. I didn’t have a band when I recorded that album and I kind of relied on my music community to come together. I’m incredibly grateful for all the support I’ve gotten from this community. It’s definitely an honor and I was not expecting it at all.”
Musician Max Lockwood accepted Erlewine’s award for song of the year, reading a statement from the northern Michigan singer-songwriter that thanked WYCE and all of the nominees. “As artists, it’s always an honor to be seen in our lifetime for our work and it’s also something we can never take for granted,” according to the statement, noting she had to trust the “ancient wild animal inside” to create the song.
Performers clearly were thrilled with Friday night’s awards extravaganza, too.
“That was a lot of fun,” said Tommy Pancy of Candid Antics after the Grand Rapids band played the Elevation stage. “I had a blast. That’s the goal, you know? I love this room, too. The energy is crazy and the stage is so cool.”
Return to Local Spins on Saturday for more coverage and a highlights video from Friday night’s Jammie Awards.
PHOTO GALLERY: The 2026 Jammie Awards
Photos by Derek Ketchum, Chelsea Whitaker and Anna Sink
Copyright 2026, Spins on Music LLC
